The directors and producers of ten East and Central European creative documentary projects that came out on top following a tough competition involving more than 200 applicants came to Prague on Monday to take part in the 15th East European Forum workshop and pitching event, held as part of the region’s key documentary industry gathering, East Doc Platform.

Accompanied by the representatives of 12 projects participating in the Ex Oriente Film workshop, all filmmakers will spend five days being guided by the most highly renowned documentary film experts (read about them here), intensively working on fine-tuning their projects and getting ready for the final public presentations. The ideas behind the projects range from intimate studies unveiling family taboos to reportage-style reflections of current world conflicts, including the situation in Ukraine. On Saturday, they will all be pitched to industry professionals (TV, funds, festivals, distribution and production company representatives) from across Europe and North America.

The project that advances the most over the three sessions of Ex Oriente Film will be handed the traditional Golden Funnel Award and will receive €1,000 for further development. Four more projects will be rewarded (read more) by the Institute of Documentary Film’s partners: these will be representatives from HBO Europe, who will grant the HBO Europe Co-production Award for the first time, and those from the prestigious European festivals IDFA, DOK Leipzig and Docs Barcelona, who will allow the winners to take part in their key industry activities for free. Eventually, all participating projects will get to take part in round tables and individual meetings with these decision makers, and will negotiate support for their documentaries.